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☆ Jim Cramer worries about a UAW union strike at Ford. Here's how we're playing the stock
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Jim Cramer is cautious about Ford (F) due to the heightened risk of a United Auto Workers strike, which has been a recent overhang on the Club stock. The company is already seeing 50% gross margins on those software services, CEO Jim Farley said during a call with reporters following the announcement. Ford's EV transition The new software services push is just one more way Ford is embracing new technology. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Ford CEO Jim Farley poses for a photo at the launch of the all-new electric Ford F-150 Lightning pickup truck at the Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center on April 26, 2022 in Dearborn, Michigan.

Persons: Jim Cramer, Jim, Shawn Fain, Fain, Joe Biden, Ford, Peter Stern, Stern, Jim Farley, Farley, Morgan Stanley, Tesla, Jim Cramer's, Bill Pugliano Organizations: Ford, United Auto Workers, Club, UAW, Detroit automakers, Deutsche Bank, Apple, Ford Integrated Services, Ford Pro, EV, Barclays, General Motors, ICE, CNBC, Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center, Getty Locations: Dearborn , Michigan

REUTERS/Phil NobleAug 14 (Reuters) - Ford Motor (F.N) on Monday named former Apple (AAPL.O) executive Peter Stern as the president of its newly formed Ford Integrated Services unit to help build new high-margin digital and subscription services. Stern, who previously oversaw Apple TV+, iCloud and Apple News+, will report to Ford CEO Jim Farley. In his new role, Stern will focus on integrating hardware, software and services across the company's Ford Blue, Model e and Ford Pro units. Ford now has more than 550,000 paid software and services subscribers, more than 80% of them through the Ford Pro commercial unit. "The basis for differentiation is shifting from the vehicles alone to the integration of hardware, software and services," Stern said.

Persons: Phil Noble, Peter Stern, Stern, Jim Farley, Ford, Doug Field, Michael Abbott, Farley, Ford's, We're, Nathan Gomes, Paul Lienert, Krishna Chandra Eluri, Sharon Singleton, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: Ford, REUTERS, Monday, Apple, Ford Integrated Services, Ford Pro, General, Thomson Locations: Liverpool, Britain, United States, Bengaluru, Detroit

☆ Apple alumni have founded buzzy startups in climate, fintech, and AI worth over $180 billion. These are the 22 most promising in Europe.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | Tasmin Lockwood | Ricki Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Insider mapped out Europe's hottest startups launched by ex-Apple staffers, according to Dealroom data. Startups that have hired ex-Apple staffers, such as chip startups Rivos and Nuvia, have been accused by the tech giant of poaching ideas and copyright infringement. From 2010 to 2015, ex-Apple staffers had registered 163 startups which cinched funding. As the tech giant widens its global footprint, with new manufacturing bases and stores in India, its roster of alumni-turned-founders is also fast expanding across continents. Here are the 22 European startups led by ex-Apple staffers that experienced the most growth in the 12 months to May 2023, according to data from Dealroom.

Persons: Evgeny Bik, Bik, Jafferjee Organizations: Apple Locations: India, Dealroom, Europe

☆ Apple’s new challenge: making VR headsets look cool
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( Jennifer Korn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

But behind this speculation is a more serious potential problem: even Apple may struggle to make VR headsets look cool. The new headset, which blends both virtual reality and augmented reality, is Apple’s most ambitious – and riskiest – new hardware product in years. In one early marketing image, a woman is shown wearing the headset while dressed in very chic clothing and lounging in an upscale living room. Apple’s silhouette ads in the early 2000s somehow managed to make not just iPods look cool, but also wired headphones. People use phones as Apple's Vision Pro headsets are on display at Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference at the company's headquarters in Cupertino, California, U.S. June 5, 2023.

Persons: Tim Cook, Palmer Luckey, Oculus, memed, It’s, Robert Scoble, Larry Page, “ Robert, “ They’re, ” Lisa Peyton, “, Loren Elliott Loren Elliott, Reuters “, ” Marcus Collins, Collins, “ you’re, Alan Dye, it’s, ”, ” Peyton, “ It’s, they’ll Organizations: New, New York CNN, Apple, Facebook, Google, University of Oregon, CNN, Developers, REUTERS, Reuters, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan Locations: New York, —, Cupertino , California, U.S

☆ iPod godfather says Apple 'jumped the shark' with its Vision Pro headset
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Tony Fadell, a former Apple executive known as the iPod godfather, just dunked on the company's new $3,499 Vision Pro headset. But he slammed the price, battery life, and other aspects. "It's has truly nothing to do with 2hr battery life," Fadell responded. "The apps & marketing pitch is awful even if it had 24 HR battery life…. "There's no dancing in the virtual world when people don't even have bodies.

Persons: Tony Fadell, Fadell, Jeff Lutz, Apple, It's, I'm Organizations: Wired, Apple, Tech

☆ I tried Apple’s new headset. Here’s what it’s like to use
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The headset blends both virtual reality and augmented reality, a technology that overlays virtual images on live video of the real world. The new Apple Vision Pro headset is displayed during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference on June 05, 2023 in Cupertino, California. Apple CEO Tim Cook kicked off the annual WWDC23 developer conference with the announcement of the new Apple Vision Pro mixed reality headset. During another demo, an Apple employee wearing a Vision Pro headset FaceTimed me from the other side of campus. The Vision Pro has the potential to do all of that in an even more striking way.

Persons: I’d, Alicia Keys, Tim Cook, Apple, Justin Sullivan, “, Alan Dye, else’s, ”, Cook, Bob Iger Organizations: CNN, Apple, Apple Vision, Apple Worldwide, Vision Pro, Vision, Hollywood, Disney, Geographic, Marvel, ESPN, Apple Watch Locations: Cupertino , California

☆ Why are there no photos of Tim Cook and other Apple executives wearing the company's Vision Pro headset?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Top Apple reporter Mark Gurman noted there are no photos of Tim Cook wearing the Vision Pro headset. At the end of a busy day covering Apple's latest gadget, reporter Mark Gurman noticed something strange: There were no images of CEO Tim Cook or other Apple executives wearing the company's new Vision Pro headset. "Unless I missed something, it is very curious to me why there are no photos of Tim Cook or other Apple executives actually wearing the Vision Pro. Steve Jobs with the first iPhone APThis time, the Vision Pro device was shown on the faces of various models, who were mostly women. Various theories are being floated on why Cook and other Apple executives haven't been pictured wearing the devices.

Persons: Mark Gurman, Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Cook, haven't, Zac Hall, Apple, he's, Phillip Shoemaker Organizations: Apple, Morning, VR, Apple App

☆ 10 Things in Tech: Apple's big metaverse push
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Hallam Bullock | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

This week, Apple is preparing to do what no tech firm has managed yet: make the metaverse cool. Apple is ready to enter its metaverse era, but the rest of the world might not be. Some people think it's unwise to ramp up efforts to push into the metaverse — especially at a time when the metaverse is said to be headed to the industry's graveyard of failed ideas. However, it's also unwise to bet against Apple — a company whose epic feats in tech have earned its leaders cult-like status. It's quick, stylish, and high-tech, Insider's Tim Levin writes, but it falls short in range and cargo space.

Persons: Hallam Bullock, Tim Cook, Stephen Lam, Insider's Hasan Chowdhury, Apple, it's, Patrick O'Neill, Elizabeth Holmes, Lisa Lake, Theranos, Holmes, Read, Elon, Spriha Srivastava, Gray, Kia, Tim Levin, Kia's, Jack Sommers Organizations: Apple, Developers, Bloomberg, Apple —, Starco Brands, Forbes, Getty, Nvidia, Google, Challenger, Wireless, Amazon Prime Locations: London, Theranos, China, Shanghai

☆ Apple is ready to enter its metaverse era with a mixed reality headset. The rest of the world might not be.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-04 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Apple is on the cusp of revealing its future post-iPhone with a big bet on the metaverse. Tim Cook is expected to unveil a new mixed reality headset at WWDC in his riskiest move yet. Apple has the tough task of convincing the world the metaverse is still the future as interest dips. But emerging signs suggest Apple would have a seriously tough time shipping units for its metaverse bet. "If you believe there's something beyond a smartphone then it's probably the metaverse," Munster said.

Persons: Tim Cook, that's, Mark Zuckerberg's Meta, it's, Zuckerberg, Palmer Luckey, —, ChatGPT, Gene Munster, he's, Siri, That's, Apple, Munster, Bill Gates, Apple's Cook Organizations: Apple, Developers, Bloomberg, Meta, Deepwater Asset Management, Microsoft Locations: Cupertino

☆ 4K screens are typically the size of TVs. Apple may have squeezed two of them into its upcoming headset.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A supply-chain analyst said Apple's anticipated mixed-reality headset has 4K displays for each eye. The latest rumbling about Apple's mixed-reality headset is that there will be two 4K resolution displays, one for each eye, according to a tweet from Ross Young, CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants. Apple is expected to debut its first mixed-reality headset at the Worldwide Developers Conference on June 5. The company has been working on a mixed-reality headset for seven years, Bloomberg previously reported. If Young's prediction on the displays within Apple's headset prove correct, Apple could be gearing up to wow people with a headset unlike any other currently on the market.

Persons: Apple's, Ross Young, Young, it's, Michael Gartenberg Organizations: Apple, Consultants, Worldwide, Apple Watch, Bloomberg, New York Times, Microsoft, Glass Locations: WWDC

☆ 10 Things in Tech: Apple's upcoming 'Reality' headset, BookTok drives book sales, and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

AI startup cloud deals by Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are ringing "accounting alarm bells" across Silicon Valley over revenue "round-tripping." As Big Tech firms invest in AI startups in exchange for commitments to use their cloud services, some investors question whether those arrangements are artificially inflating cloud revenue growth. A former Apple marketing executive predicts the company's upcoming "Reality" headset risks being "one of the greatest tech flops of all time." How the BookTok phenomenon helped send book sales to an all-time high and reignite a love for reading. Read on to find out more about what you can use the AI app for.

☆ Even Apple will have a hard time making the metaverse cool
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Apple must do what no other tech company has done: make the metaverse cool. The iPhone maker is widely expected to debut its mixed-reality headset next month. The company's making a risky move as the tech world retreats from the metaverse and fixates on AI. In other words, Apple has more to lose by not making a wager on a mixed-reality headset than if it did. "If you believe there's something beyond a smartphone then it's probably the metaverse," Munster said.

WASHINGTON, May 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday that it had charged a former Apple Inc (AAPL.O) engineer with attempting to steal the firm's technology related to autonomous systems, including self-driving cars. The engineer, whom Justice Department officials named as Weibao Wang, 35, in 2017 accepted a U.S.-based job with a Chinese company working to develop self-driving cars before resigning from Apple. Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch, David Shepardson and Rami AyyubOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Ex-Apple Engineer Indicted in Crackdown on Flow of Restricted Tech to China, Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Sadie Gurman | Dylan Tokar | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Steve Jobs Theater on the grounds of Apple Park corporate headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. Photo: Andrej Sokolow/dpa/ReutersWASHINGTON—A former Apple engineer has been charged with trying to steal the company’s self-driving-car technology, U.S. authorities said Tuesday, one of a series of actions aimed at dismantling what they say are illicit networks providing Russia and China with access to trade secrets and restricted items such as aircraft parts and battlefield equipment. Weibao Wang, 35 years old, a software engineer at Apple from 2016 to 2018, was charged with six counts of theft or attempted theft of the company’s “entire autonomy source code,” tracking systems, architecture designs and descriptions of hardware behind the technology, the Justice Department said in an indictment.

☆ DOJ charges former Apple engineer with alleged theft of autonomous car tech for China
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A former Apple software engineer was charged with allegedly stealing Apple's autonomous technology for a Chinese self-driving car company, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday. Weibao Wang worked as a software engineer at Apple from 2016 to 2018, a DOJ indictment said. Wang worked on Apple's Annotation Team, and was granted "broad access" to databases which the Justice Department said could only be accessed by 2,700 of Apple's 135,000 employees. An even smaller segment, around 2%, had access to "one or more" of the databases Wang accessed, the indictment continues. The charges were announced as part of a sweeping enforcement action led by the Disruptive Technology Strike Force.

☆ Justice Department files criminal charges in cases of American tech stolen for Russia, China and Iran
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Hannah Rabinowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —The Justice Department announced on Tuesday five criminal cases against people accused of stealing or illegally diverting American technology and materials for the Russian, Chinese and Iranian governments. The man, Xiangjiang Qiao, is at large in China, according to the Justice Department. “These charges demonstrate the Justice Department’s commitment to preventing sensitive technology from falling into the hands of foreign adversaries, including Russia, China, and Iran,” said Matthew Olsen of the Justice Department’s national security division. In New York, a Greek national is charged with allegedly acquiring more than 10 different types of sensitive technologies on behalf of the Russian government. The man, Dr. Nikolaos “Nikos” Bogonikolos, was arrested in Paris last week and the US will move for his extradition, the Justice Department said.

☆ U.S. Tech Espionage Team Unveils First Cases Involving China and Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Ana Swanson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Biden administration announced arrests and criminal charges on Tuesday in five cases involving sanctions evasion and technology espionage efforts linked to Russia, China and Iran. Two Russian nationals were taken into custody last week under accusations of sending aircraft parts to Russia in violation of sanctions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine. The announcements were the work of a recently established “technology strike force,” which aims to protect critical American technology or data from theft by hostile nations. The strike force was set up in February and brings together agents with the Commerce and Justice Departments, as well as the F.B.I. Federal agents are working to trace the global movement of U.S. goods and data, as well as the funds used to pay for them.

On Tuesday, the U.S. government accused a former Apple employee, Weibao Wang, of stealing trade secrets from the company's self-driving car division, including the entirety of Apple's "autonomous" source code. Following that, he worked as chief technology officer at Neolix, a Chinese self-driving car company. Wang is the third former Apple employee from China to be accused of stealing trade secrets from Apple's self-driving car division. Xiaolang Zhang, who worked at Apple around the same time as Wang, pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets from Apple in August. Apple has reportedly been working on a self-driving car since at least 2015, although it has never discussed its goals or plans publicly and no car has been announced.

[1/3] An American flag waves outside the U.S. Department of Justice Building in Washington, U.S., December 15, 2020. REUTERS/Al Drago/File PhotoWASHINGTON, May 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday it has charged a former Apple Inc (AAPL.O) engineer with attempting to steal the firm's technology related to autonomous systems, including self-driving cars, and then fleeing to China. Two of the cases involved what Justice Department officials called procurement networks created to help Russia's military and intelligence services obtain sensitive technology. The former Apple engineer, identified as 35-year-old Weibao Wang, formerly resided in Mountain View, California, and was hired by Apple in 2016, according to an April indictment unsealed on Tuesday. After his last day at Apple, the company discovered that he had accessed large amounts of proprietary data in the days before his departure, the Justice Department said.

☆ A Google exec's jab at Apple about texting issues between iPhones and Android drew cheers and applause at a conference
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A Google exec took a thinly veiled jab at Apple at the company's Google IO conference. The exec said the company hopes every mobile operating system adopts a messaging standard called RCS. Google has campaigned for Apple to adopt RCS to make texting between iOS and Android a better experience. The moment was Google's latest attempt to pressure Apple to adopt something called the the RCS messaging standard, or Rich Communications Services. Samat said that over 800 million people currently use the RCS standard, with expectations that number will balloon to 1 billion by the end of the year.

☆ GM hires former Apple executive Abbott to lead software unit
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 9 (Reuters) - General Motors Co (GM.N) on Tuesday named former Apple Inc (AAPL.O) executive Mike Abbott to lead a division that will bring together three software functions within the company. Abbott, whose appointment is effective from May 22, will spearhead development of vehicle and enterprise software technologies. Automakers, including GM and Ford Motor Co (F.N), have been increasingly ramping up their investment on technology and software services amid an electric-vehicle push, as they look to cash in on subscription-based services. At Apple, Abbott led a team responsible for the development of core infrastructure for all of the company's cloud-based services including iCloud, iMessage, Private Relay, Mail and account security. Bloomberg News had in March reported Abbott would step down from his role at the iPhone maker.

☆ GM Hires Former Apple Cloud Executive to Oversee Software
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Mike Colias | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Automakers and tech companies are locked in a battle over who gets control of the dashboard console. Photo illustration: George DownsGeneral Motors has hired a former Apple executive to lead a newly formed software unit, the latest in the auto maker’s efforts to reduce its reliance on Silicon Valley for in-car tech. Mike Abbott , vice president of Apple’s cloud services, will join GM later this month as executive vice president of software, in charge of developing both in-vehicle features and enterprise solutions, the automaker said Tuesday. He will report directly to GM Chief Executive Mary Barra .

☆ GM hires ex-Apple exec to lead new software unit
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Michael Wayland | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

A sign with the General Motors quality mission statement stands in the lobby at the GM Warren Tech Center in Warren, Michigan. DETROIT – General Motors has hired former Apple executive Mike Abbott to lead a newly created software unit for the Detroit automaker. Abbott, former vice president of engineering for Apple's Cloud Services division, will join GM as executive vice president of software, effective May 22. Software, specifically monetizing it, is a major focus for automakers such as GM, as they eye reoccurring revenue opportunities such as subscriptions to boost profits. GM has a target to grow profit margins and double its revenue to about $280 billion by the end of this decade.

☆ Apple employee who defrauded company of millions sentenced to three years in prison
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

A former Apple employee who swindled the company out of more than $17 million with a scheme that double-billed for parts was sentenced to three years in federal prison and pay nearly $33 million, prosecutors said. Dhirendra Prasad pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States in 2022. Prasad, 55, of Mountain House, California, worked at Apple from 2008 to 2018 as a buyer in the company's Global Service Supply Chain unit. Along with two co-conspirators, who owned two companies that were Apple suppliers, Prasad conspired to double-bill Apple for parts it already owned or had purchased. In addition to his prison sentence, Prasad will forfeit $5.5 million worth of assets, pay a money judgment of $8.1 million, and restitution of $17.4 million to Apple and $1.9 million to the IRS.

☆ Everyone knows Siri is way behind. It's partly why top Apple engineers have jumped ship to Google, report says.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Apple is having a hard time convincing workers that Siri can keep up with new AI rivals. Apple lost three top engineers working on AI technology to Google, The Information reported. It's the latest example of how far behind Apple is seen to be on AI versus Google and OpenAI. Apple has lost three top engineers working on ChatGPT-like technology to Google, in a sign the iPhone-maker is struggling to supercharge its AI efforts and Siri as large language models go mainstream. They were personally poached by Google CEO Sundar Pichai after shunning Apple boss Tim Cook's efforts to keep them, the report said.

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